5 Undeniable Reasons to Ditch Diet Soda Today

It sounds too good to be true: A drink that tastes like your favorite soda but has zero calories. No wonder people think they can sip on it all day long. It’s practically like drinking water! Or is it? By now you’ve probably heard that diet soda isn’t the health drink it pretends to be. If you can’t seem to get motivated to stop your daily diet soda habit, read on for the latest news on why you need to cut it out of your life.

It can boost your diabetes risk. A study published last month showed that in some people, drinking diet sodas can change the make-up of their gut microbes in a way that increases their risk for Type 2 Diabetes. It turns out the artificial sweeteners that are found in diet sodas lead to a glucose intolerance.

It erodes your tooth enamel. Diet soda doesn’t have sugar, but it does have acid. Phosphoric acid and citric acid are used to flavor colas, and they can erode the enamel on your teeth and reduce how much calcium is in your teeth and bones.

It messes with your metabolism. There is something called metabolic syndrome, which leads to belly fat, high cholesterol and a higher risk for heart disease. And when you drink even one diet soda a day, you have a 34 percent higher risk of having metabolic syndrome.

It could lead to a higher risk of depression. It seems like the two things have nothing in common, but research links diet soda consumption to depression. People who drink more than four cans of soda a day have a 30 percent higher risk of depression—and the risk is higher among diet soda drinkers than those who down the regular varieties.

All that said, it isn’t a good idea to switch to regular soda either. One can of cola has 33 grams of sugar–and most people drink way more than a 12-ounce serving. Instead, try one of these healthy, flavor-packed alternatives to pop.